Highland Mill Lofts 2901 North Davidson Street, Charlotte, NC 28205

"If I could rate this place a zero I would. I lived here for exactly 30 days before reaching out to break my lease. Positives: Kind maintenance man and the Assistant Manager that worked here when I first moved were great. A few reviews on here mention the paper thin walls and I agree. Not sure if it’s the old loft style of apts that cause this, but you can hear anything your neighbors do. The main issue I had started on a Tuesday at about 10am. My neighbor had a dog that started barking. I called and complained about an hour into the barking. It continued, from 10 that morning until about 2am that night when I finally fell asleep. Non stop barking, every 30-45 seconds, for over 12 hours. I reached out to the office and mentioned that my neighbor should be checked on if the dog is barking that consistently and desperately. The leasing office said they could not get in touch with him. The next day, I reached back out mentioning that the barking stopped, but if they were unable to get in touch with the neighbor that it’s concerning because a dog would not bark for that long and suddenly stop. Office said they would follow up. A few days later I called the office and complained about seeing a number of flies in my apartment. Not small fruit flies or gnats. But big, large, outside summertime type flies. The property manager said she would put in a maintenance request for me (she didn’t). I also noticed a smell towards my front door that I could not figure out. And was never updated on the neighbor or the dog issue. About a week later I noticed cops outside of my door, and eventually one knocked on my door asking if I had any information about the neighbor. Later found out by the coroners team that was standing in front of my door for hours in hazmat suits that the neighbor had passed as I suspected. The leasing office didn’t give any details or reach out to offer any assistance whatsoever. No residents were notified. Leasing office didn’t reach out to help resolve the fly issue, offer vent replacements, or even try to offer anything that would mitigate the smell of a dead body that was coming from directly next door. I was living in an apt with flies coming directly from a body for days. Dealing with the smell unmasked and unprotected. I contacted the regional manager in corporate, and was let out of my lease. That’s the only positive thing I can say as I didn’t have to fight them for that. I’ve seen a few bad reviews on here about them being sneaky when letting people out of their lease, so looking forward to seeing how transparent they really were about that process or not. The most they did was allow me to leave the apt when I was ready, and returned my $500 security deposit. No fees given for having to move out of an an apt after living there for barely 2 months. The lack of assistance they provided during this was insane, and if anything I let them get off easy by leaving. I was inconvenienced by moving and dealing with the numerous fees that come along with that, while they returned a deposit that I would’ve already gotten back, and already leased out my apt for someone new that knows nothing about the situation. I don’t have a single positive thing to say about the property manager. Getting in contact with her is difficult and she very clearly has no real care or concern for her residents. She delegates all tasks to whoever the Assistant Manager is that’s working under her, which is exactly why my concerns about the neighbor were never addressed because the assistant wasn’t working during that time, and the property manager brushed me off as usual. Look into the regional office of whatever apartment that you are looking to move into. Would not recommend Highland, the leasing office staff, or Waterton."

"I lived at Highland Mill Lofts for a little over two years. Here’s an honest review if you’re looking to rent here. Pros: Beautiful, spacious loft spaces dating back to the early 1900’s with high ceilings, concrete floors and lots of natural light from the floor to ceiling windows (this is for second floor plans only). Two minute walking distance to the main strip in Noda and lots of green spaces to explore to walk your dog. Friendly, and responsive staff and quick maintenance (at least by the time I moved out earlier this year). Despite the thin walls, the complex itself is fairly quiet. Not a lot of kids, or loud parties. Cons: Walls are so thin, I could hear my neighbors phone ping when they received text messages.This is not an exaggeration. I could also hear what TV show they were watching, and clearly hear normal voice conversations. They, I’m sure, could hear everything I was doing which makes living here feel very “public” and not private as it should be. If you are a light sleeper, living here will be hell. Due to former statement you are at the mercy of who you live next to. Even footsteps sound thunderous due to the thin walls. Bedrooms on the second floor are next to the main hall so you can hear people walk by at all hours. Dog park is just awful. It’s small, and covered in wood chips that cover some strange pipes. I rarely took my dog there. There’s one grill for the entire complex and it rarely works. The large windows on the second floor don’t come with screens. NC has a lot of bugs especially in the summer. For this reason, I rarely opened my windows in the summer which was a bummer. The office said “you can buy window screens.” Well, they aren’t cheap, I don’t know how to make them myself and I wasn’t expending the energy for a property I don’t own. The worst con is the price. In the two years I was here I renewed once. They tried to raise the rent $200 more but I negotiated for a lower price. The second time I was eligible for renewal, they tried to raise the rent by $300 but even if I wanted to negotiate again, I was so exhausted from not being able to sleep most nights due to hearing everything in my neighbor’s apartments, not even a $1 raise in rent would have been worth staying. $300 more is ludicrous. Rent is ridiculous all over Charlotte now but if you’re going to pay that much, you should at least have some privacy in your living space."

"The apartment itself is amazing; it's very spacious, unique and in the best of locations. The building is a converted, historic textile mill. My low review comes from the on-site management of the property, which is low quality. Ever since Waterton bought this property in late 2019, things have gone downhill. They got rid of a lot of the original characteristics of the building, and amenities have remained broken for years. Rent has also raised astronomically, and the reasoning they give is that 'a computer decides the rent rates.' It's clear that they don't care about the tenants who reside here, or about the history and culture of the neighborhood. I'd also like to note that a lot of the five star reviews are people who have only toured the apartment, and not actually lived there."

"I am enjoying the space a lot. As a person who works from home, staying here reinterates the saying you get what you pay for. The staff and community is friendly. The units high ceilings and windows create an open feel to their spacious modern living rooms. I haven't found a space comparable anywhere else in Charlotte. You can't go wrong with a renivated mill unit. Hope to have you as a neighbor."